will not think Dr. Cunningham's words one whit too strong, when he says, our ingrafting-The classical passages in the Scriptures for the use of this "He who is baptized puts on Christ, the Second Adam; he is baptized, I 1. Give some examples of the original use of the Greek word baptism. 2. Show that it is not the amount of water used, nor the manner of its application, 3. Explain the metaphor of ingrafting, and give examples of its scriptural uses. Q. 95. To whom is baptism to be administered? A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of 1 Acts viii. 36: And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: m Acts ii. 38. [See before.] Ver. 39: For the promise is unto you, and to Baptism is not to be administered-This Answer consists of two parts,— the first part takes up the case of adults, and the second touches on the case of infants. That the teaching of the Catechism as to the admission of adults is in accordance with the mind of Christ, is evident from the terms of the baptismal commission our Lord issued to His disciples, and from the invariable practice of His apostles. On a profession of faith in Christ, men were to be baptized and thus admitted into the visible Church. the visible church-The Confession thus defines and describes the Church invisible and visible. "The Catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. The visible Church consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with their children." "I have observed,' says Calvin, "that the Scriptures speak of the Church in two ways. Sometimes when they speak of the Church, they mean the Church as it is before God,-the Church into which none are admitted but those who by the gift of adoption are sons of God, and by the sanctification of the Spirit are true members of Christ. Often, too, by the name of Church is designated the whole body of mankind scattered throughout the world, who profess to worship one God and Christ, who by baptism are initiated into the faith.' Accordingly, when the apostles preached Christ, they always demanded a profession of faith in Him before they administered baptism in His name; and our missionaries, who are in this respect incontestably the true successors of the apostles, invariably act on this principle. but the infants-Infant baptism is sometimes called pado-baptism, from the Greek word paides. The Directory for Public Worship says, that children of professing parents are Christians, and federally holy before baptism, and therefore are they baptized; for their baptism supposeth them to be Church members, and doth not make or constitute them such. And in Jonathan Edwards' Qualifications for Communion, it is set forth as the general opinion of Protestant divines that the same qualifications are required in a parent bringing his child to baptism as in an adult person for his own admission to this ordinance. This is not the place to set forth the scriptural arguments and considerations that have led the vast majority of Christian parents in all ages to seek baptism for their children. There exists a large literature that has sprung up in connection with this observance. And the reader may be referred to Calvin, Cunningham, Hodge, M'Crie, and Edwards for the arguments that support the practice of Christendom and the doctrines of the Catechism. As to the connection between the naming of children and their baptism, Alford says: "The names of children were given at circumcision, because, at the institution of that rite, the names of Abram and Sarai were changed to Abraham and Sarah." A not less historical, if less remote origin of this practice was the giving of a new name to heathen converts, on their public reception into the Church by baptism. "The giving of a child its name, was no more a part of the original intent of circumcision than of baptism; it was an incidental circumstance that custom had added. And I cannot forbear saying, that, in administering baptism, I think care should be taken so to order the voice that it may plainly appear that we then only speak to the child by the name that hath been already given to it" (Doddridge). USES 1."It is no slight stimulus to bring up our children in the fear of God, and the observance of His law, when we reflect that from their birth they have been considered and acknowledged by Him as His children" (Calvin). 2. But we have no express command in the New Testament to baptize infants. There needed no new command; their privilege had been settled many years before on them, and never reversed by Christ or His apostles, but their former right declared to continue to them still. For the promise is to you and to your children (Acts ii. 39). 3. But many baptized infants prove naught. And so do many baptized at age too. Duties are not to be measured by events (Flavel). Q. 96. What is the Lord's supper? A. The Lord's supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace." n 1 Cor. xi. 23: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: Ver. 24: And, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, cat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. Ver. 25: After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Ver. 26: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 1 Cor. x. 16: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? The Lord's Supper-The second sacrament of the New Testament has several names given to it in Scripture according to the way it is looked at, and according to the feature in this ordinance that is specially pointed at―(1) Luke's favourite name for the Supper is "the breaking of bread" (see Luke xxiv. 30; Acts ii. 42, xx. 7). (2) The second scriptural name given to this sacrament is "the communion of the body and blood of Christ" (1 Cor. x. 16). This name brings out that idea of spiritual community and believing and loving fellowship which is an essential element in this ordinance. (3) The third scriptural designation is the Eucharist, or the thanksgiving, referring to Matt. xxvi. 26, 27; 1 Cor. xi. 24, and xiv. 16. The Western Church translated the Greek Eucharist into the Latin actio gratiarum; and it is from this latter phrase we still retain the name of action sermon, the sermon before the action. (4) The fourth, and perhaps the most universal and familiar name, is the Lord's Supper or the Lord's Table. It is called a Supper because it takes the place in the New Testament Church of the Passover Supper in the Old Economy. And it bears the name of the Lord's Supper because our Lord instituted it, and because in it Christ and all His benefits are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. "It is called also 'the Supper of the Lorde,' to put a difference betwixt it and ane prophane supper; for this is the Lord's Supper, a halie supper, not a prophane nor common supper; a supper appointed for the increase of haliness, for the foode of the saule in haliness, to feede the soule to life everlasting. It is called also in the Bible the Table of the Lord,' it is not called the Altar of the Lord; but the apostle calls it a table to sit at, and not ane altar to stand at; a table to take and receave, and not an altar to offer and propine' (Bruce). by giving and receiving bread and wine-"Communicating." 'Take this, and divide it among yourselves." "For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." "Sweet solemn hour! The only sound The Cross to every hand and heart.” "Are not bread and wine too small and common things to represent the body and blood of Christ? Though a bit of bread and a draught of wine be of small value in themselves, yet they are great in respect of their use and end. A pennyworth of wax is a small thing in itself, but being applied to the label of a deed, may be advanced to the value of thousands of pounds, as it receives the seal of a great inheritance" (Flavel). according to Christ's appointment-(See the accounts of the institution of the Supper in the Gospels and in First Corinthians.) On John vi. Bengel says: "Jesus framed His words so skilfully, that immediately at the time, and at all times subsequently, they would indeed apply in their strict literal sense to the spiritual enjoyment of Himself; and yet that afterwards, the same words should by consequence be appropriate to express the most august mystery of the Holy Supper, when that should be instituted. The whole of those words concerning His flesh and blood have in view the Passion of Jesus, and along with it the Holy Supper." But some able and evangelical Protestant divines have denied that our Lord had any reference at all to the Supper in His great discourse in the sixth of John. And when we reflect on the disastrous effects the Popish and High Church interpretation of that discourse has had on the Church of Christ, we would gladly believe that Bengel's first explanation is the true and exclusive one. his death is showed forth-Represented. See Answer 92; Gal. iii. 1. the worthy receivers-No man properly speaking is worthy. But worth is one thing when a communicant is viewed in himself, and it is another thing when he is looked at as in Christ, and invited by Him. Worth is one thing in the covenant of works, when worth is measured by personal merit, and it is an altogether different thing in the covenant of grace, when worth is measured according to the work and merit of Christ, and the reality of a believer's union with Him. He who esteems himself to be worthy is clearly debarred from the table a sense of utter unworthiness is one mark of worth in a communi. cant. "Are morally honest and sober persons qualified for this sacrament? No; civility and morality do not qualify persons: they are not the weddinggarment, but regenerating grace and faith in the smallest measure are (Flavel). Morality does not qualify, though immorality absolutely, and in all men, disqualifies and shuts out. On this whole subject see the able and scriptural discussion in the Larger Catechism. not after a corporal or carnal manner, but by faith made partakers of his body and blood-This is directed against the Popish doctrines of tran substantiation. According to that doctrine, the bread and wine are changed into the very flesh and blood of Christ, so that all communicants literally and physically eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ. But the Catechism, in common with all the Reformed and Evangelical_symbols, teaches the scriptural and sacramental doctrines of the Supper. It is the soul that sups here, and not the body. The communicant looks not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen. Only, as the soul resides in the body, and is ministered to in intellectual and spiritual things by means of the body, so is it at the supper-table. There is nothing on this table worth speaking of for the needs of the body; all that is here is for the soul; and it is here offered and received in a bodily way, only because thus the true supper of the soul is more vividly and impressively brought before it. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.' with all his benefits-See under Question 92. (Cf. Ps. lxviii. 19, ciii. 2-5, cxvi. 12.) to their spiritual nourishment-Spiritual because administered to the spiritual man, and because administered to him by the Spirit of God. The meaning is not exhausted by the antithesis between carnal and spiritual, taken in the sense of bodily and mental. Spiritual here is opposed both to the corporal participation of the Papist, and the merely carnal participation of the unspiritual man. (See the profound and fruitful exposition of this scriptural word in Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections, Part iii. sect. i.) "Now in respect this flesh is a spirituall food, serving me to a spirituall life, for this cause it is called a spiritual thing. It is called spirituall, in respect to the spirituall ende quhareunto it servis to my body and soul: because the flesh and blood of Christ servis to nurish mee, not to a temporal life, but to a spirituall and heavenly life (Bruce). growth in grace. Neither Baptism nor the Supper is for the beginning or implanting of grace in the soul grace must be in the soul already before the sacraments are partaken of with any right meaning or good result. George Gillespie argues at great length, following Calvin and other Reformers, that the Supper is not a converting ordinance, but that it is given to nourish and increase the life of grace when it has been already begun; and he adds that the sacraments are just another example of the rule, "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." (See Jonathan Edwards, Concerning Qualifications for Communion.) USES.-I. Flavel points out to those who study this subject that the remembrance of Christ here intended is not a mere speculative or historical, but an affectionate and appropriating remembrance. 2. "Pious souls may derive great confidence and delight from this sacrament, as being a testimony that they form one body with Christ, so that anything which is His they may call their own (Calvin). 66 3. Speers thou quhat new thing we get in the sacrament? I say, we get Christ better nor we did before we get a better grip of Christ now. That same thing quhilk thou possessed be the hearing of the word, thou possesses now more largely. For be the sacrament my faith is nurished, the bounds of my soull are enlarged, and sa, quhen I had but a little |